Chris Hughton became Norwich's new manager on 7th June 2012, replacing Paul Lambert who had quit the club to take charge at Aston Villa. Norwich paid Birmingham City compensation for taking their manager Hughton and his backroom team of Paul Trollope, Colin Calderwood and Ewen Chester.

A product of Tottenham's youth team, he made 398 appearances as a full-back for Spurs following his debut against Manchester United in 1979. Whilst with Spurs, he won the UEFA Cup (1984), the FA Cup twice (1981, 1982) and was capped 53 times for Ireland playing in the 1988 European Championships and the 1990 World Cup.

He finished his playing career at West Ham (43 appearances) and Brentford (32 appearances).

He returned to White Hart Lane in 1993 as a coach. Working under a host of Spurs managers including Ossie Ardiles, Gerry Francis, Glenn Hoddle and David Pleat, Hughton rose from Under-21 manager to first team coach and eventually assistant manager, before Martin Jol’s dismissal saw Hughton’s time at Spurs end in the 2007-08 campaign

In 2008, he joined Newcastle as first team coach working under Director of Football Dennis Wise and manager Kevin Keelan. He had two spells as caretaker manager but after Alan Shearer's reign saw Newcastle relegated, owner Mike Ashley turned to Hughton to manage Newcastle. Despite the loss of key players and financial restrictions, he guided Newcastle to the Championship title, winning the LMA Championship Manager of the Year award. He took Newcastle to mid-table security in the Premiership before Mike Ashley got nervous and wanting higher profile, replaced him with Alan Pardew. He had won 38 out of the 70 games he had managed Newcastle.

In the summer of 2011, he was appointed manager of Birmingham following Alex McLeish's departure to Aston Villa. Despite crippling financial uncertainty and controversy over Blues owner Carson Yeung, the huge turnover of players since Premier League relegation under McLeish and working under a transfer embargo, Hughton took Birmingham to the Championship play-offs and the group stages of the Europa League.

In his first season in charge at Norwich, he steered them to 11th place despite flirting with relegation for much of the latter half of the season.

In September 2013, Hughton was linked with the vacant Republic of Ireland manager's position following the resignation of Giovanni Trapattoni following Ireland's defeat in Austria that ended their World Cup qualifying dream. Also linked were Martin O'Neill, Mick McCarhy (Ipswich) and Brian McDermott (Leeds).

Dismal form in their second saw Hughton sacked on 6th April 2014, with the board explaining: “Norwich City can confirm Chris Hughton, Colin Calderwood and Paul Trollope have parted company with the club with immediate effect - and former Canary winger and FA Youth Cup-winning coach Neil Adams has been appointed as first team manager. The Norwich City board has taken the decision to give the club the maximum chance to secure the points required between now and the end of the season to ensure retention of our Premier League status. the club would like to place on record it’s sincere thanks to Chris Hughton, Colin Calderwood and Paul Trollope for all of their hard work on behalf of the club since they took over in June 2012. Chris’s achievement in guiding City to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League last season was an excellent one and he has represented the club with dignity throughout his tenure. However the recent run of four defeats in our last six Premier League games and six consecutive away league defeats, left the club with no choice but to act, with five games still to play in the current campaign.”

Hughton was linked in September 2014 with the vacancy at Fulham following Felix Magrath's sacking. He was also linked with vacancies at Crystal Palace and West Brom in December 2014 before being appointed manager of Brighton on 31st December 2014, signing a three and a half year contract. Seagulls chairman Tony Bloom said: "Chris has an excellent record in coaching and management. He's hugely respected, both nationally and internationally, and he has great contacts within the game." His first game saw the Seagulls win in the FA Cup at Brentford.

In 2015/16 Hughton took Brighton to third place in the Championship, finishing four points behind champions Burnley and behind second place Middlesbrough on goal difference. In the play-offs, they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Sheffield Wednesday who had finished sixth. Despite failing to achieve promotion, Brighton offered Hughton a new four year contract on 18th May 2016.

On 17th April, Hughton's Brighton secured promotion to the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Wigan. The Seagulls had not played in the top flight since 1982/83. Hughton told BBC Radio 5 live his players were up for the challenge of promotion straight away, despite the heartbreak of 2015-16: "It had something to do with how the season ended last season, but I think it was more the fact that the players enjoyed being up that end of the table, competing, getting into the play-offs. I think it was a conscious decision that they wanted that again, and the signs were there early in the season. We recruited well early in the season, in the summer, but it was a real steely determination from the group of players that wanted to do it again."

On 13th May 2019 Hughton was sacked as Brighton manager after they finished 17th in the Premier League. The Seagulls won just three of their last 23 league games and none of their final nine. Chairman Tony Bloom said "Our run of three wins from 23 Premier League matches put our status at significant risk. It is with that in mind, and the performances during that period, that I now feel it's the right time for a change. Undoubtedly, this has been one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make as chairman of Brighton, but ultimately one I have made due to how we struggled in the second half of the season."

. Within days Hughton was linked with the management vacancy at West Brom (but it went to Slaven Bilic)

In July/August 2020 Hughton was linked with the managerial vacancies at Birmingham City, Bristol City and Bournemouth. In the end his next job was to be at Notts Forest who appointed him as manager on 6th October 2020 following the sacking of Sabri Lamouchi after they started the 2020/21 season with four defeats. Forest had also seen a poor run of form at the end of 2019/20 collecting just three points from their final six games and dropping out of the play-off positions.

Hughton was sacked as Forest manager on 16th September 2021 following a 2-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough, a result that left Forest bottom of the table with one point from their opening seven matches. Paul Trollope was also sacked. Hughton's replacement was former Swansea boss Steve Cooper.

In February 2022 Hughton was appointed as Technical Advisor to the Ghana national team as part of an interim four-man technial leadership team ahead of the World Cup qualifying match against Nigeria in March 2022. His appointment has been questioned by many, who deem the role similar to the job of Ghana Football Association technical director Benhard Lippert. Hughton is set to assist new Ghana head coach Otto Addo, alongside Aston Villa U23 boss George Boateng and former Nordsjaelland youth coach Mas-Ud Didi Dramani. It was confirmed in June 2022 that Hughton would stay on as technical advisor to Otto Addo until after the World Cup finals in Qatar in which Ghana will face Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay. "I will be involved in lots of the dialogue with the technical staff but with regards to the squad, team selection, and tactics, I know that is the responsibility of the coach,” said Hughton

Ghana finished bottom of Group H at the World Cup in Qatar, losing to Uruguay and Portugal but beating South Korea.

On 12th February 2023, Chris was named as Ghana's Head Coach. He replaced Otto Addo, who stepped down following the World Cup in Qatar. George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani will continue as Ghana's assistant coaches. His first priority will be to qualify for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations. After Ghana failed to quality from the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations, Hughton was sacked on 23rd January 2024.